Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 11:

The Incubator Initiative in Nepal (IIN), a project under IT Professional Forum (ITPF) has launched a three-day long business incubation managers’ training, today. The training, first of its kind in Nepal, aims to generate awareness among prospective incubator operators on management, public policy, process and infrastructure for the development of business incubation in Nepal. It has also an objective of creating a network of potential incubators. Dr Kim Houghton, director of Strategic Economic Solutions, an Australia-based economic think-tank, is the key resource person for the training. Dr Houghton said that the business is a system that helps business and economic activities grow, using ICT tools. He also said that around 80 per cent of business incubation initiatives have been successful in the world. Currently, there are over 3,000 such incubation centres across the globe.

Dwelling on Nepal’s economy, the Australian expert said that Nepali economy has stagnated due to different factors. “There is a growth trap as small business has not been able to grow at a large scale,” he added. Nepal should carry out studies on how many business companies need support so that they could achieve desired growth. “Transforming the informal market into a formal one is key for the Nepali economy,” Dr Houghton said. Suresh Kumar Regmi, president of ITPF, said the programme is part of the project’s activities to bring out its finding on ‘Environment and Need Assessment’ of business incubation in Nepal.

Arun Ranjitkar, assistant professor at the Institute of Engineering, while sharing his experiences, said that it was quite useful to comprehend the concept of business incubation.

Over 20 representatives from various government offices, educational and private sector are taking part in the training. Funded by infoDev of the World Bank, the IIN is studying the feasibility of business incubation in Nepal. The project plans to bring out the preliminary report

‘Environment and Need Assessment’ by the end of this month.